The Grand Highblood x Reader x grub Gamzee - Beauty and the Beast
by e-bartkowiak
Summary: In an old chest on your grandma's attic you found an odd, purple pedant - a key to completely different place, to the castle of the Beast.
1. The purple pedant

"Are you sure about that sweetheart?" You heard a soft voice behind you. When you turned around, you saw your grandmother climbing up the stairs with worry in her old eyes. "You don't have to do this," she added, trying to regain her breath after this little exercise.

"But I promised you, grandma." You pulled at the string attached to the hatch in the ceiling, opening it and revealing a folded ladder.

"But you're such a fine young lady." She let go of an exaggerated sign. "You should have fun with people your age. Don't mind an old granny and her dusty attic… Instead of that, think about great-grandchildren for her," she ended with a quiet chuckle.

"Grandma!" you shouted with indignation, but whole effect was ruined by your laugh. "I haven't found anyone I would like to have your great-grandchildren with." You pulled down the ladder, which hit the floor with a loud thump. "But you can be sure you will be first person to know about it." You jumped on the second step with a wide smile.

"That's why I'm saying you shouldn't mind this attic. Go find yourself a fine gentleman." She grabbed your hand in both hers and smiled at you warmly.

"Nana-a!" You sat on the ladder step, so your eyes were on the same level. "I finally get my vacation, so I want to rest from the noise of the big city and spend some time with my beloved grandma." You kissed older woman's forehead. "Beside that," you made a stubborn face, "I want to see what treasures you hid up there with grandpa." You smiled with sparks in your eyes. "So, go down, make me some of your famous cookies and wait for me to come back with a lot of incredible stuff, because I'll force you to tell me stories about them."

"Alright sweetie." She kissed your hands. "Have fun, but please be careful: some planks may be rotten."

"I will, grandma." You stood up and waited until your grandmother walked away to the stairs, before you climbed up into the dark mouth of the attic. With the help of your small flashlight, you quickly found an old-fashioned lamp hanging above the entrance. You turned it on and only then did you look around. The attic was rather big and, as your grandma said, dusty. Very dusty to be exact. You were pretty sure no one had come up here since your grandpa had passed away two years earlier.

Various things stood under a slanted roof, creating narrow paths to two opposite walls with small, closed and unbelievably dirty windows. Breathing heavily due to the hot and steady air, you walked to the closer wall, carefully looking under your feet and everywhere around. You saw a huge chest with a tiny porcelain doll sitting on it. A colorful clown costume was lying next to black umbrellas. A small tricycle, which you were sure belonged to the four-year-old you, was next to a sewing mannequin you'd never seen before.

With a little of effort, you managed to open the small window and you stuck your head outside, taking a deep breath of fresh air. You smiled at the view. Your granny lived in lovely place: on top of a low hill, one of so many around. Each of them looked different, especially in the golden rays of a rising sun. You let yourself to gaze at white puffs, grazing on a far dark green hill, before you hid back into the attic. You quickly went on the other side and opened second window, letting fresh air circulate through the entire place. Then you came back to the entrance and started to look closely at all treasures around you.

That big chest from earlier drew your attention once again and you decided to start with it. You carefully took the porcelain doll from it and you blew on her face. Dust flew around, revealing a cute, white face with big eyes in a beautiful shade of purple. She was dressed in a simple black-purple dress with yellow details and on top of her round head with long black hair, was a yellow hair band. As if through a thick fog you remembered her. You called her Beth and you used to play with her. You chuckled. Beth had always been a trapped princess and you had been a brave prince, that rescued her from the claws of an evil dragon. That had been a time when your passion for fencing had kicked in and had been holding you up until now.

You placed Beth on the floor near you and you blew on the lid of the chest, creating a huge cloud of dust. "Aaa…" some of the dust got in your nose and was tickling you, "achoo!" you sneezed, creating an even bigger cloud. You covered your nose with one hand and waved the second in all directions, trying to clear air and suspend coughing.

Finally, you tried to lift the lid and to your surprise, it let go rather easily, but with a loud creak. You looked inside. The first thing to notice was a neatly folded white fabric. You pulled it out and it appeared to be an old-fashioned dress with long sleeves. You held it to yourself and danced one pirouette, laughing. You were pretty sure it was wedding dress and you would fit in it perfectly. Was that your grandma's dress? Or was it even older? You placed it on a nearby chair with one missing leg, deciding to bring it down later, as one of treasures.

Looking back into the chest you noticed a photo album. Without even a moment of hesitation you took it out and looked through it. Only on the third page, full of black and white photos, you recognized someone: your grandpa. He was just a little boy, but he already had his oh-so-characteristic frown. You looked at the rest of photos, guessing the identities of other people. One of them especially made you curious - you suspected she was your grandpa's mother and – what had drawn your attention - was oddly similar to Beth.

You took up the doll and held her close to the photo where your, probably great grandmother, looked the youngest. Of course Beth looked like a little girl and the picture showed a grown up woman, but you were almost sure it was the same person. You chuckled and placed both, the album and Beth, on the wedding dress.

The next item you took out from the chest was a big box. It was made from three differently colored types of wood which created a beautiful rosy pattern on the lid. You opened it carefully and smiled widely once you heard a simple music flowing from it. This music box played a slow lullaby which your grandpa had hummed for you.

You lifted the lid to the end. Underneath it was a mirror and now you were looking at yourself through [color] eyes with a barely visible purple hue. You chuckled and made a weird face at yourself. You'd always wondered why you had this odd tint in your eyes, but now you guessed it was your great grandmother's gift. You definitively had to ask grandma about this.

Inside the box was jewelry: earring, rings, pins, brooches and necklaces. Everything was so beautiful it looked like small pieces of art, but what caught your attention was a rather simple necklace. On a thin, golden chain was a single, oval gem in a gold ring. But this gem was incredible, you were certain that small sparks were floating underneath its purple surface. Lifting it against the light from the window you traced your fingers against the smooth gold.

Darkness fell around you and a sudden wave of coldness made you shiver. It disappeared as soon as it came, leaving you totally confused with the pedant at your feet. You looked down at it, trying to figure out what'd just happened. You lifted it up and like mesmerized you looked inside the gem. You were sure this darkness had come when you had touched the purple stone. You reached out your hand and, wondering if you'd lost your mind, you touched it once again.

You were standing in a dark, medieval-like corridor. A loud sound of moving away steps filled your ears. Looking to the right, you saw a back of a human shaped creature, but it couldn't be human. It was at least nine feet tall and on top of the wild tangle of long black hair were two long, orange horns.

"You!" was an angry shout behind you. "What the hell are you!?" Another, smaller creature walked toward you with anger clearly visible on its gray face. This one had much shorter, but still long hair and its horns curved downward. His… At least you thought it was 'he'. His whites of eyes were yellow and his teeth looked like shark teeth. He lifted his muscular arm, armed in a heavy spear, and pointed it at you. "Answer!"

"Nope." With your lips creating a short, straight line, you let go of the purple gem and came back to your grandma's attic.


	2. The purple grub

You were sitting in your dark bedroom. Not big, but cozy guestroom in your grandma's home. You'd always slept there, ever since your first visit as small kid. Light green walls and dark wooden furniture looked exactly the same as nearly twenty years ago and probably even earlier. You glanced at a clock which stood on a huge commode. It showed thirteen minutes after midnight and its constant ticking was the loudest sound in the room. You reached for a [flavor] cookie - one of many that were on your bedside table, next to the strange, purple pedant.

Thanks you your grandma - who's most probably sleeping right now - you knew that this big chest and all things inside it, once belonged to your great-great-grandmother, Halina. Yes, the woman from photos, who looked like Beth, was your grandpa's grandmother, not mother. She'd always looked much younger than she'd really been, even when she'd died in a car accident. And Beth? She looked like Halina, because it'd been made especially for her as a wedding gift. Unfortunately the other doll, the one which looked like your great-great-grandfather was destroyed.

You stood up from your bed and, wearing your custom made bunny slippers, you started to slowly walk around your room. Of course you didn't tell grandma about your journey to this medieval dungeons with alien creatures, but it sure made you incredibly curious. What were those creatures? Why did you understand them…? Well that was probably due to the same magic which get you there in the first place - wherever that place was. You stopped at the bedside table, slowly nibbling at the cookie and watching the purple gem that was shimmering in moonlight, thinking.

Would it bring you back to that corridor? Right in front of that spear which was directed exactly at your heart? Or somewhere else? Somewhere safer or maybe somewhere you would never wish to be? Was there a time limit? Would you be forcefully sent back or would you get stuck there? And most important - how the hell had Halina gotten that pedant?

You took another cookie and stuffing it whole into your mouth, you lifted up the necklace. It looked exactly the same as this morning. You reached your free hand to the gem and, holding your breath, you grabbed it and immediately let go. Well, no spear sticking out of your chest was definitely a good sign. And you were pretty sure that in this dark place where you'd been for less than a second, no one was targeting you.

You took a handful of cookies and, after stuffing them into pockets of your pajama pants, you once again grabbed the purple gem. You appeared in a dark, spacious room without windows. Glowing crystals that were sticking out of walls near the ceiling and embers in a huge fireplace were giving off just enough light for you to see. Well, to tell the truth, you had always had strangely good night vision, gaining you a nickname 'cat'.

Tables, armchairs, wardrobes, shelves filled with various weapons and skulls - everything in that room was huge as if made for someone much bigger than a normal human being. That wasn't surprising, considering size of that creature you'd seen before and which apparently was sleeping in a nearby bed. You quietly walked around this rough furniture to take a look at being's front. Beside odd skin color, pointy ears, horns and abnormal height, he pretty much looked like a man. A rather handsome man, you had to add. You traced your sight down his wide forehead, deep-set eyes, straight nose, slightly opened lips, strong jaw, broad chest, perfectly shaped stomach and purple coverlet. Was he sleeping naked? You inflated your cheeks a little, thinking. Should you or shouldn't you? Finally your curiosity took over you and you reached out to the coverlet.

A quiet snore, which sounded more like a growl, made you change your mind. As much as it seemed appropriate to greet your host, recalling the welcome of the other creature you decided to go against this. Instead, you quietly walked to heavy looking doors. Glancing behind you, you put on the necklace. You made sure to touch the gem the whole process and set it under your shirt, against the bare skin. Then you attempted to open the door, wincing when handle creaked a little, but to your relief he door opened without a sound.

You stuck your head out and, only after making sure that no one awake was around, you walked out. Now you were standing in the middle of a long corridor completely made of dark stone. The same glowing crystals were lighting it up, along with torches - one in every second gap between thick pillars.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe," you sang quietly, when you couldn't decide which direction you should go. "Catch a tiger by the toe." You pointed to the left and that's where you headed, taking out one cookie and curiously looking around.

You ate two of them before you reached the next crossroad where you heard the faint sound of footsteps. You waited, hiding in the shadow behind the nearest pillar. You closed your eyes, listening. There were two creatures coming your way… Or a different creature with four legs. Whatever that was, it was so loud that your soft steps were practically soundless.

After a long minute, two creatures appeared in corridor to the right. The first word you thought when you saw them was 'guards'. A male and a female. They were at least a whole head taller than you, and they both looked tired, like after long hours of guarding something. The male carried a long spear against his shoulder, while the female had a two-handed sword attached to a lose belt.

"Aaaaaa," the male yawned loudly when they were passing you, showing whole set of sharp teeth. "I dream about a warm bed," he said, scratching his head, right behind his horns that looked like arrows. "Would you be so kind to warm my bed up for me, Mintga?" He looked at his companion.

"Only if you jump out the window from the highest tower," the female answered emotionlessly. They walked down the corridor to your left, not noticing you. Why should they? You were standing still in the niche without a torch. Only your eyes were following those creatures and they definitely didn't expect to see an intruder inside. You frowned. You shouldn't call them 'creatures'. You sneaked near the corner, thinking. You carefully looked to the right, left and once again right, before you quickly walked to the other side.

Elves! Yeah, they probably weren't dark elves, but you decided to stick with that for a while. Nibbling on the next cookie, you attempted to open a door which you were actually passing. It didn't look different than any of those you'd already passed, but it made it as good as all of them.

The knob clicked quietly and you carefully swung open the door, revealing the incredible contents of the miraculous… closet. Yeah, brooms, mops, bowls and containers full of unidentified fluids or powders. You reached for one of them - a blue box. Inside it was white powder which sparkled a little. You licked your finger and dipped it in this substance. Placing container back on its place, you lifted your finger to your eyes. It looked like sugar. But who stored sugar in closet? Dark elves? You licked it off your finger and winced, sticking out your tongue and wiping it out with your sleeve. That was soap. Yes, you should have thought of that. You closed the closet.

You froze, listening. There was a quiet patter from the direction you'd come, but you didn't see anything there. You quietly stepped back into the shadow, waiting. The pattering lasted for few second, stopped for few more, only to be heard once again. Again and again, completely irregularly.

Then you spotted it. It stepped into patch of light… It… You had absolutely no idea what that was. Its purple body looked like a big larva, which would fit into your palms, but its head looked like a smaller version of a dark elf's head. It had gray skin, pointy ears, black hair and orange horns, but its eyes looked like two purple glass beads. It wandered through the corridor with its gaze fixated on the floor. Its black legs pattered against the smooth stone as it traveled from one crumb of cookie to another, happily eating each of them. You watched as it gradually came closer to you, remembering for some reason an animation you'd watched a long time ago where a little girl found a cute, white bunny which turned out to be a bloodthirsty monster.

The grub finally reached the closet where the trail of crumbs ended and it honked sadly, looking around. It spotted your bunny slippers and it honked curiously, tilting its head. You barely managed to suspend a giggle at its sweetness and you wiggled your toes, moving slippers a little. The grub's eyes widened with happiness and, honking quietly with each step, it quickly ran into bunnies, chewing on them and nuzzling. You chuckled quietly and, making sure to touch pedant all the time, you couched slowly enough to not frighten the purple grub. It raised its cute eyes at you in wonder. You were probably as alien to it as it was to you.

"Hello, little one," you said quietly, reaching out to the grub, but stopping before touching it. The grub glanced up at you, then down at your hands, honked quietly and sniffed your palms carefully. Then it honked happily and climbed its front legs on your hands. You smiled, wondering if it smelled the scent of cookies. While it was sniffing your left hand you reached your right to your pocket and took out the last goodie. You bit at it, instantly gaining the grub's attention which drifted to the cookie even faster. You held the remaining half of the cookie above the grub's head and it honked desperately, reaching up its short legs so much it sat up.

Chuckling, you broke the cookie in another halves and you gave one to the purple grub, which immediately started to nibble on its treat. You delicately patted its head - those black, rather long curls were a true tangle, but a soft tangle. Now, when you looked at it closer, colors of its slightly corrugated horns resembled you a candy corn. You smiled and traced your fingers down its grub body, gaining a giggle mixed with honks.

"Who are you, little one?" you asked, giving it the last piece of the cookie. It looked at you, as if understanding your question, honked with a wide smile and ate the cookie in one bite. Then it walked away, stopped, looked at you and honked.

"You want me to come with you?" you asked, standing up and dusting off your butt. Another happy honk was the only answer you got. You started to walk behind the grub, which ran away a few yards, stopped to look at you and honk, again and again, leading you in the direction you had come from.

You two passed doors to the bedroom, where the huge dark elf slept, and you two walked further, reaching another crossroads. The grub disappeared in a corridor on the right and you ran after it.

"Here you are, young master Gamzee!" you heard a female voice, but it was too late to stop. You run to the middle of corridor. The purple grub was perfectly in the middle between you and a female dark elf, who was wearing a black-green maid-like outfit. "YOU!" she hissed as soon as she spotted you. "Who are you!?"

"Well done Gamzee," you chuckled. "I'm [Name]. See you later." You lifted up the necklace, right before the female could get her sharp claws on you, disappearing from the dark corridor and appearing back in your bedroom.


	3. The full moon

"Leave it to me, grandma," you said as your grandmother started gathering dishes after your supper.

"You know, as a good host, I should do this," she replied with a sour face, picking up a plate you were about to grab.

"You are an excellent host, grandma," you assured her, stubbornly taking the dishes away from her, "But I'm not your guest, I'm a family member and you've hurt my feelings making this supper all by yourself." You made a face which could be seen on features of some offended, but extremely cute four year old girl. You two stared at each other for a minute or two, before your grandma surrendered.

"Uh, alright [Name], do as you want. Your old granny will go to sleep like all old people do at this time," she wailed, going outside the living room, where you two had been eating.

"You're not old, grandma!" you call out, laughing a little, "And good night!"

"Sleep tight, sweetie!" she called back and next thing you heard was a sound of closing door.

Smiling like a fool, you took the pile of dishes, carried them to the nearby kitchen and placed in enameled sink. You opened the tap, but closed it back after a second and went back to the living room. Humming a cheerful, improvised melody, you crouched in front of a big, ancient radio receiver and tuned it on, making sure it played loud enough for you to hear if from the kitchen, but not enough to disturb your ancestor.

After you were done with the dishes, you walked upstairs to your room, of course not forgetting about bringing some cookies. You took a quick shower, dressed in your pajamas, brushed your teeth and did everything that completely normal young lady like you would do before completely normally going to completely normal sleep.

Then you stood in front of your bed, in your funny bunny slippers, shoved fistful of cookies inside your pajama pocket and took the absolutely abnormal purple pedant from your bedside table. You chuckled at the memory of the adorable purple grub named Gamzee and touched the cold crystal.

Just as earlier, you appeared in the dark bedroom and, just as earlier, its enormous owner was sleeping in his huge bed with his back to you, but this time the purple coverlet wasn't reaching his waist, but knees… Yes, he was sleeping naked. You let yourself waste a minute or two for enjoying the view, but you averted your gaze from this full moon to the door as you remembered why you entered this dream.

Yes, you thought it was just a dream. There was no way some piece of jewelry would bring your body to different world, filled with dark elves… Right? It had to be some sort of hallucination caused by an undefined narcotic on the pedant. Yeah, it had to be something like that. But as much as you thought it was just a hallucination, you liked it. It seemed to be an interesting story with cute grubs, fascinating adventures and handsome beasts.

You cracked the door and looked outside. You saw no one and you heard no one, so you opened the door wide enough for you to sneak outside and you quietly closed it back. Then, playfully humming a theme from 'Mission Impossible', you slunk to the right, down the corridor Gamzee had lead you last time.

One cookie later, you reached the place where you and the cheerful grub departed. No sleepy guards, aggressive maids nor cute babies, but a lot of similar, closed doors. Checking every single one of them would take way too long and there was still the probability that Gamzee wasn't behind any of them.

"Young master Gamzee!" you shouted with your hand on your chest, ready to lift the pedant and disappear at any moment. "Please, show yourself master Gamzee!" you pleaded, after a while of silence. You had a feeling that last escapade of the little grub wasn't an exception and even if some dark elf heard you, he or she would simply ignore you.

You frowned a little, unsure if you really heard quiet scratching. You scanned all ten doors, which were within your sight, and you smiled when you noticed that handle of the farthest door was shaking. Shaking as if someone was trying to open it, but wasn't heavy enough to succeed. You quickly approached it and chuckled when you heard sad honks every time the handle jumped back to its usual position.

"Honk! Honk! HONK!" Gamzee squeaked as he unexpectedly slid down the handle when you opened the door. He shook his head a little and skillfully turned around, so he was back on his tummy and only then he noticed two, white creatures with long ears which he'd seen a day earlier. He beamed with happiness and immediately jumped at them, smuggling into their soft fur. He was honking happily, enjoying an affection of his new best friends, when his sniffnode was filled with a delicious aroma. He quickly followed the sweet scent and, very soon, he found its source in some pocket. He jumped a little, reaching his pointy, front legs for this wicked treat, sent to him by Mirthful Messiahs themselves, when someone grabbed him gently, lifted and placed him on someone's lap. He looked up. Oh right, that was [Name]. A strange, but nice being that had [color] skin, no horns, two lusii, could disappear and was owner of pocket filled with his treats. Shortly - his own miracle.

"For you, Gamzee," you said, handing your little fellow a cookie. He grabbed it with a happy honk and immediately started eating it. You looked around; you'd made sure you two were alone earlier, but only now you took a while to study your new surroundings. This bedroom was almost as big as previous one and lightened by glowing crystals and embers in a fireplace. The furniture were smaller, mostly made for normal human adult while the rest was sized for a child. Closed wardrobes, bookcases filled with multicolored balls and spinning tops in all kinds of shapes, almost empty racks for juggling clubs - which were spread all over the floor along with purple pillows and different, round tables and a small bed.

"Honk!" Gamzee poked you in the stomach. He'd already eaten his treat.

"What is it, Gamzee?" you asked, pretty sure what he wanted. The grub honked again, pointed his spike-like leg at his open mouth and at your pocket. "Oh, you want another cookie?" you asked, tilting your head a little. Gamzee honked and jumped on your lap, happy that you were intelligent enough to understand him. "And when will you finally greet me?" you asked with a hint of sadness, to make it even worse you sniffed a little.

Gamzee's eyes widened and his mouth created a perfect circle. His sight trailed to the side as he recalled what he had done so far and it was quite possible that he hadn't greeted this odd creature named [Name]. But how should he do it? As he'd done to your lusii - jump on you and snuggle? Or like adults greet him - only petting your head a little? He let go of a confused honk. He wanted to cuddle with his miracle, but adults didn't like it and he didn't want you to dislike him. He honked sadly and crawled closer to you, reaching up as high as he could what was only a little above your soft breast.

"Come here, you little!" you laughed and wrapped your arms around his thick body, letting yourself to fall backward and sit on the floor to fully enjoy Gamzee's happy honks, warmth and tickling of his grape smelling hair as he delightedly nuzzled closer to you. What started as the awkward greetings changed into affectionate cuddles full of laughs, honks and kisses.

"You are adorable Gamzee, you know?" you said after at least an hour of hugs, lifting the grub closer to your face. He giggled, pressed the sides of your nostrils with overjoyed honk and kissed the tip of your nose. Little did you know, that for him you were the most miraculous miracle he had ever witnessed. You gave him a long, bubbly kiss on his tummy, causing him to, once again, burst in honks and giggles.

"You are delectable," you said, placing Gamzee on your shoulder and chucking as he immediately nuzzled to you, tickling you with his unruly mane. You stood up, took a cookie from your pocket and handed it to Gamzee. He honked cheerfully and reached for his treat, opened his mouth widely to take a huge bite, but he stopped in midair and retreated, glanced at you, waved the cookie at you and honked shortly.

"What do you want, Gamzee?" You had literally no idea what was wrong. The purple grub honked again and waved the cookie so strongly he almost fell from your shoulder. "You want me to take this cookie?" you asked, petting his back to make sure he won't fall and he smiled happily with a loud honk. "Ok," you said and grabbed other side of the cookie. To your surprise, he cracked it in half and started to carelessly nibble on his part, leaving the other to you. "Oh", was all you said, but inside you were screaming in delight and you couldn't hide a smile so wide, your already hurting cheeks started to sting even more.

"You know, I have more of them," you informed Gamzee a while later, a little vaguely due to the half of cookie in your mouth, sitting on his bed and placing him back on your lap. He honked with a wide smile and crawled to your pocket, sticking his nose inside it. You giggled, took out next cookie and handed it to him, but before you could let it go, he broke it in half.

"I love you Gamzee," you confessed cheerfully and bit your half. Gamzee looked up at you, tilting his head in extremely cute wonder and fell backward as soon as you started to tickle his tummy, revealing more of his soft skin.

In that pit of giggles and honks you almost lost a sound of opening door. Almost. You glanced up at the entrance to see a face of a female elf. Her features in a split of second changed from curious, through surprised to angry and furious. Why every dark elf reacted that way as soon as any of them spot you?

"Bye Gamzee," you said and lifted your magic pedant, before the female could reach you.

* * *

A/N: I hadn't had an idea for a title, I'm sorry... no I'm not sorry. It was either 'the full moon' or 'the purple grub 2'. If you have better idea I'll gladly read them :)

And as always: if you found any mistakes, please let me know.


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